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THE RISE OF GENTRY POWER ON THE CHINA–BURMA FRONTIER SINCE THE 1870S: THE CASE OF THE PENG FAMILY IN MIANNING, SOUTHWEST YUNNAN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2014

Jianxiong Ma
Jianxiong Ma*
Affiliation:
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology E-mail hmjxm@ust.hk
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Abstract

From the 1870s to the 1940s, the construction of lineages among the Han settlers on the frontier between China's Yunnan province and Burma became significant. Through these lineages the construction of Han identity was also extended toward Burma along various transportation routes. In the continuing reformation of frontier society, gentry power, based on lineage corporations, expanded and performed a crucial role in the construction of a new style of border, as well as functioning as a leading force for ethnic competition by extending state power into the borderland. After the colonization of north Burma by the British in 1886, new economic opportunities attracted more Chinese merchants who built networks along transportation routes between cities in Burma and commercial centers in Yunnan, which also changed the social landscape of the frontier. The construction of lineages as a Han system not only overlapped with trade networks, but also provided sufficient economic and political resources to build a Han identity, which competed with other types of identity-polity systems – such as those of the Dai, the Lahu and the Wa – between the Mekong River and the Salween River.

Keywords

Han ethnicityChinese lineageYunnan and Burma frontierthe Lahuthe gentry
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 25 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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